Parental involvement is key to growth in student achievement

As I read your editorial on teacher evaluations, I did not see any mention of a very important noun and verb: "Parent" ("Room for improvement," Feb. 12).

As a retired teacher of 36 years in Baltimore City who has experienced several changes in teacher evaluations, I've often asked why we can't get more parental input regarding student progress. As teachers, we are expected to show academic progress among our students with little to no parental support. A typical high school teacher with three or four classes of 30 or more students each is lucky if they see 10 percent of their students' parents — meaning that 90 percent of the parents offer no help at all.

Teacher observations, announced or unannounced, have been accepted as evaluation tools and have worked to some degree over the years. But it takes children's first, and lifelong, teachers — their parents — becoming involved in the process for real growth in achievement to occur.

How to get more parents involved in their children's education is what your editorial should have considered. Using professional improvement programs, spotting weaknesses in effective teaching practices and tracking standardized test scores are all well and good. But until we get the parents involved, we are just spinning our wheels.

I would like to see The Sun and schools CEO Andrés Alonso speak out boldly about parental input, or the lack of it, and its importance in the learning process. Ask any teacher, be they a rookie or seasoned veteran, and they will tell you that with parental input the child will succeed.